The drummer for hard rock band, Nightrider, has a few lesser-known talents hidden up his sleeve. Brent Enman is a veritable one-man band and proved his credentials on solo releases Wildman from 2012, and The Mojo Castle Sessions from 2018; where he wrote and played every instrument, and produced the records.
Enman now has a new self-released album available called Retromatic Vols 1 2 3 Complete. As the name suggests, this album has pulled together the three Retromatic EPs which Brent has remixed for this release. His grounding in 70s and 80s rock shines through and infuses all of the songs as he proves equally adept on vocals, guitar, bass and keyboards as well as the drums.
Give ‘A Higher Place To Be’ a listen, it has an intro that echoes that of Heep’s ‘Look At Yourself’ but on guitar, followed by a Heepy backing riff and harmonies… it’s still a good song, with piano and guitar taking centre stage for an entertaining middle section. ‘The Right Kind Of Girl’ has a tongue-in-cheek “ready guys?” and count in (remember it’s just Brent) before the Poison meets AC/DC rock kicks in and even adds a hint of punkishness in the delivery. ‘No Lovins Blues’ starts with a neat, jazzy shuffle before the guitar takes it on a blues-rock heading. The only approaching a ballad song is the closing and very good ‘Now Who’s Got The Blues’ where he explores the fretboard with some aplomb and any Moore aspirations are with reverence.
This is a fine rock album that leans heavily on those heady, heavy decades but does mix new ideas with classic rock tropes. The first listen may lead you to think derivative but it will reveal much more with subsequent run-throughs.
